“Many of our histories exist through fragments – inherited stories or images whose contexts have been lost through migration and time”, says Bindi Vora, senior curator at Autograph Gallery.
“I’m often thinking about how to amplify underrepresented narratives, voices and diasporic communities whose histories are rarely held within formal archives”.
Vora is preparing for the opening of Of Walking on Fire, the debut UK solo exhibition by French Vietnamese artist Nhu Xuan Hua. The show reflects on the fragility of how stories are communicated – or withheld – across generations.
Drawing on family archives from Vietnam and her early years in Europe, Hua digitally alters images to create ambiguous, sometimes unsettling, dreamlike compositions that shift between recognition and distortion, raising questions about the reliability of memory.
Born and raised in Paris to immigrant parents who fled the war in Vietnam, Hua grew up feeling disconnected from her heritage. Questions about the past were often met with the response: “Why are you asking? The past belongs to the past”.
This was further complicated by the fact that Hua’s father, who is oral-deaf, communicates in spoken Vietnamese and a self-taught form of French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Française), leaving the family without a shared language during her upbringing. This profoundly influenced Hua’s artistic practice in later years.
Originally trained in fashion photography, Hua has collaborated with international brands including Dior, Kenzo and Gucci, and contributed to the likes of Vogue and Dazed Beauty. Hua was also behind the 2018 TIME Magazine cover shot of boyband and internet sensation BTS.
Since then, Hua’s practice has shifted, becoming multidisciplinary and introspective and allowing for an exploration of memory, identity and displacement. She has already exhibited solo at Huis Marseille and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, cementing her status as a powerful voice in contemporary photography.
“Nhu Xuan Hua’s approach to the archive is something unstable and emotionally charged, rather than authoritative”, Vora adds.
“Her work acknowledges that photographs – especially family photographs – don’t simply preserve memory. They also conceal, distort and fragment it.
“I’m drawn to the way she leans into that ambiguity, allowing images to dissolve, blur or transform so they hold both presence and absence at once”.
Of Walking on Fire features both new and existing works, spanning both gallery spaces at Autograph. Gallery One traces lost conversations and gaps in Hua’s personal history, while Gallery Two focuses on renewal. “By foregrounding these spaces of silence, [...] Of Walking on Fire acknowledges the emotional and imaginative work involved in remembering”, Vora adds.
Hua’s photographs are displayed amongst trinkets, objects and flower vases arranged on altar-like ornamental shelves throughout the space, drawing on motifs of Vietnamese temples. Painted shadows reference the quiet architecture of the family home.
Vora adds: “In many Vietnamese homes, altars are spaces where personal and ancestral histories coexist, and this reference subtly informs the installation”.
For her, the scenography plays an important role in how Hua’s works are read. “It operates in tandem with the photographs rather than simply framing them”, she explains.
“Throughout her research, ideas and image-making, Nhu Xuan draws from her Vietnamese heritage, lived experiences and new cultural formations, and the display reflects that layered approach.
“Working with such personal material always requires a thoughtful approach”, she adds, noting that the archives carry “emotional weight as well as personal and historical resonance”.
“At the same time, they are not presented as untouched archival documents. Hua actively alters and reworks the images – so that they move between memory, fiction and reconstruction.
“Because of that, the curatorial approach is not about presenting the archive as a fixed record of the past. Instead, it is about supporting the way Hua uses these images as a starting point for reflection and reinterpretation”.
Reflecting on the urgency of exhibitions like Of Walking on Fire, Vora points to their role in highlighting “how personal and collective histories are shaped by migration, displacement and cultural inheritance, revealing how images carry traces of memory across generations.”
She continues: “Photography emerges as a powerful tool for reflecting on the complexities of diasporic identity and inherited memory. Hua’s work highlights how image-making can hold contradictions – belonging and dislocation – while opening space to reconsider how personal histories intersect with broader social and political realities.”
Of Walking on Fire
Autograph Gallery
1 Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA
16 April – 19 September 2026
Free to enter
Learn more here.
